Infosys Foundation's co-founder Sudha Murty was recently awarded Padma Bhushan in the presence of her family including her husband, and Infosys co-founder, N R Narayana Murthy, daughter, and UK First Lady, Akshata Murty, and son Rohan Murty
Sudha Murty, a distinguished educator, author, and philanthropist, was awarded Padma Bhushan for her contributions to the field of social work. She was awarded by President Droupadi Murmu at the majestic Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan
This is not the first time Sudha Murty has been conferred with a Padma award. In 2006, she was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India for her social work as part of the Infosys Foundation
Sudha Murty was born into a well-read family in Shiggaon, Karnataka. After completing her schooling, Sudha shared her wish to pursue engineering but it seemed as if she dropped a bomb inside her house
Sudha’s decision to pursue engineering was met with a lot of resistance from her family members. Though, she went on to fill out the application form for BVB College of Engineering and Technology and soon she was selected based on her marks
The college did not have a single washroom for women. Sudha Murthy was assigned a tiny, dusty room at the corner of a building where she would sit and study. She overcame several challenges and topped her class by the end of the electrical engineering course
Soon after her engineering, Sudha was hired by TELCO. This is where she met her future husband Narayana Murthy through a common friend. Soon after, they got married
In 1981, Sudha Murty had an emergency fund that amounted to Rs 10,250. When Narayana Murthy shared his vision of building a software company, Sudha loaned this money and became an angel investor in Infosys
Years after the inception of Infosys, Sudha decided to set up Infosys Foundation to support programs in the areas of education, rural development, healthcare, arts and culture, and destitute care
In one of the anecdotes shared by Sudha Murty in her book, Three Thousand Stitches, she said that two women at Heathrow International Airport, in London asked her to move aside from the queue for business class. Looking at Sudha’s simple attire of a saree, they thought, she would be unable to afford the ticket